Following up on Super55's practical questions:
What is legal is one thing; what is honest is another thing.
Being legal is important; being honest is more important.
If you have a title or registration from the previous owner; and,
that title registration uses an engine number that does not match your engine number, you are SOL. Ask your DMV how this would be handled - engines get changed during 50 years.
If you have a title registration from a previous owner; and,
that title registration uses a cab/body/vehicle ID that does not match the VID tag, you and the seller are in trouble. The seller has perpetrated a fraud, and you are "holding the bag". Shame on the seller for being dishonest and shame on the buyer for being stupid.
If you have a title or registration from a previous owner; and,
that title registration uses a cab/body/vehicle ID and there is no VID tag on your truck, you are in a legal bind (you are SOL, but you might consider making a replacement tag and suffer the possible consequences).
Oddly, the New York DMV takes a very logical position on this situation. Since there are no national or state records for IDs for old vehicles, NY accepts a written bill of sale on which the seller IDs the vehicle (stating the VID and or the engine ID) and states the sales price. The NY buyer can then register the vehicle, after paying taxes on the purchase price. This is beneficial to buyers and sellers (and to the state in collecting taxes). If any of the information can later be proven to be fraudulent (the IDs and/or the sales price), that sales contract can be used as evidence of fraud committed by the seller and or buyer - lawyers like this.
